House lawmakers' efforts to increase diversity in employment at U.S. insurers could result in more openness about what insurance company employees earn.
Members of the House Financial Services Committee have suggested in a new report that insurers should put pay ranges in job descriptions to promote transparency and pay equity.
The House Financial Services diversity and inclusion subcommittee talked about the report Tuesday at a hearing the subcommittee held in Washington on diversity and inclusion at 27 large insurers. The committee streamed the hearing live on the web and posted a recording on its website.
What It Means
If pay transparency rules end up applying to insurers, you might be able to use the new pay range disclosures to negotiate for a raise.
If pay range disclosure rules end up applying to a wide range of employers, such as all U.S. employers that qualify as "large employers" for Affordable Care Act health insurance regulation administration, you might be able to use the disclosure rules to help your clients negotiate for raises.
Many states require employers to provide pay ranges only if job applicants ask for the information, but the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act requires Colorado-based employers to give pay ranges for all job openings, according to an analysis by Pequity, a human resources software company.
If a state in your own market area adopts a pay transparency law similar to the Colorado law, you might be able to use job ad databases to fine-tune marketing efforts both for individual services prospects and for employer plan prospects.
You might find, for example, that experienced high school teachers earn more than you expect, and junior attorneys earn less, and target outreach efforts accordingly.
The Staff Report
The House Financial Services diversity and inclusion subcommittee has already held hearings on diversity and inclusion in the banking and securities sectors.
The staff conducted its survey to get data on diversity and inclusion in insurance.
The participating insurers known primarily for life insurance and annuities were Lincoln Financial, Northwestern Mutual, MassMutual, MetLife, New York Life and Prudential.
The list also included multiline insurers with large life and annuity operations: AIG, Hartford, Nationwide, State Farm and USAA.
In 2021, 30.5% of all of the employees at the participating insurers were people of color, compared with 42% at big banks, 41% at big investment firms and 42% in the general population, according to the House Financial Services staff.
But, at the executive and senior manager levels, only 17% of the employees were people of color. About 7% were Asian, 4.6% were Black and 3.1% were Hispanic or Latino.
The Chair
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the subcommittee chair, called the survey results disappointing.
